Gang violence and ethnic tensions between Haitians and American-born blacks in Connecticut

Matthew Strozier:

A Bridgeport man police suspect has gang affiliation and ties to West Side drug dealing was shot multiple times inside his gold Honda parked in the lot of the KFC on West Main Street.

The 23-year-old man had a shattered arm and may have suffered a chest wound, but was recovering at Stamford Hospital after the shooting last night, according to family members with him. Police did not identify him.

Police and witnesses said the shooter approached from the passenger side of the car at about 8:35 p.m. and fired four or more times at close range, leaving several bullet holes in the side window.

The shooter fled and the victim, who was in the driver's seat, stumbled out of the car and across West Main Street until falling near the front door of Good Samaritan Church at 298 W. Main St., police said.

The shooter apparently ran north on Spruce Street toward Stillwater Avenue and escaped police. Police had not recovered the weapon last night but were continuing to search behind homes and in yards along Spruce Street.

Police spokesman Lt. Sean Cooney said the victim was targeted by his assailant and is known to police for his connections to the West Side's Merrell Avenue.

"It's more than likely he is a player in all this stuff that is going on" on the West Side, Cooney said last night at the scene. "That is the early indication."

The West Side has been hit with a rash of gang-related shootings since the Jan. 21 slaying of 19-year-old Flanegaine Joseph on Stillwater Avenue and Colahan Street.

Joseph's killing sparked about a half-dozen shootings and several other related assaults, mostly on the West Side. Police have said the feud involves teens from different housing complexes on the West Side, rival gangs with ties to the Bloods and the Crips, and ethnic tensions between Haitians feuding with American-born blacks.

There have been two arrests connected to the incidents, both of teenagers.

Last night's shooting rattled neighbors, several of whom said they considered their area a quiet part of the West Side where blocks are starting to fill with new homes.

"I think it's scary," said one woman who declined to give her name. "I think it's time to move. You could be walking down the street and minding your business and this could happen."

Jean Celestin, 43, said he was watching television when heard the shots and ran outside to see the victim in front of the church. "We know that in Haiti things like that happen -- shooting people," said Celestin, who immigrated to the United States in 1988. "But not in America. We are scared."

In an interview at the hospital, the victim's great-aunt said she was in KFC at about 8:30 p.m. when her great-nephew walked inside.

He told her he was headed to his cousin's house on the West Side to play video games, she said.

"I went to get dinner, I gave him a hug and he said he was going home," she said. "I didn't want to have to come home to this."

The woman said the victim lives in Bridgeport and visits Stamford frequently to spend time with relatives.

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